Ernest Favenc (21 October 1845 – 14 November 1908) was an explorer of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, a

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, author of verse, novels and short stories, and an historian.

Personal life

Favenc was born in

Walworth Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the Old ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

descent, he was the son of Abraham George Favenc, merchant, and his wife Emma, née Jones. He was educated at the Werdersches Gymnasium,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and at Temple College, Cowley,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

. Favenc arrived in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in 1864, and, after being in the colony for about a year, in a commercial position, he afterwards worked in the pastoral industry in the frontier squatting districts of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. Favenc married Elizabeth Jones Matthews on 15 November 1880 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Favenc died at his

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. I ...

home in

on 14 November 1908, and was survived by Elizabeth Jane and their daughter.

Exploration

In July 1878 the proprietor of ''

The Queenslander ''The Queenslander'' was the weekly summary and literary edition of the '' Brisbane Courier'', the leading journal in the colony—and later, federal state—of Queensland since the 1850s. ''The Queenslander'' was launched by the Brisbane New ...

'' newspaper employed him to explore the country along the western border of Queensland to Darwin to evaluate the possibility of connecting the

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. The journey took him six months, and he reported that such a line would be feasible. Unusually for the period, his wife Emma was also part of the expedition party. In the early 1880s he also undertook expeditions in the country to the south of the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

and to the headwaters of the Murchison,

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

and Ashburton rivers of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Writing

Favenc's first publication was ''The Great Austral Plain'' in 1887. ''The Last of Six: Tales of the Austral Tropics'' appeared in 1893, followed by ''The Secret of the Australian Desert'' (a short novel) in 1895, ''Marooned on Australia'' and ''The Moccasins of Silence'', both in 1896. Favenc also wrote under the pseudonym of "Dramingo", often for ''

'', and was an accomplished pencil sketcher. He also published romances, children's stories and verse as well as several books on exploration, the most extensive being ''The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888''. On the original launch of this book in 1888 the Sydney, Australia ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' reported:

Works

* ''A Romance of Kangaroo Point'' (1876). (written as "Dramingo" and first published in ''The Queenslander'') * ''The Great Austral Plain'' (1887). * ''The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888'' (1888). * ''The Last of Six: Tales of the Austral Tropics'' (1893). * ''The Secret of the Australian Desert'' (1895). * ''The Moccasins of Silence'' (1896). * ''Marooned on Australia: Being the Narration by Diedrich Buys of his Discoveries and Exploits in Terra Australis Incognita'' (1896). * ''The Explorers of Australia and their Life-work'' (1908).

References

External links

Works by Favenc
a
Project Gutenberg of Australia
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Favenc, Ernest 1845 births 1908 deaths Exploration of Australia Explorers of Australia 19th-century Australian historians 19th-century Australian novelists 19th-century male writers 19th-century Australian short story writers 19th-century Australian poets 19th-century Australian journalists 19th-century Australian male writers Australian male journalists